Introduction
In this interview, Anastasia Iakovleva discusses the ideas behind Reverse Code. She explains her interest in memory and perception. She also talks about suspense, plot twists, complex female characters, and the questions she hopes readers will carry after finishing the book.
Q1. What connects the three stories in Reverse Code, and what emotions did you want readers to experience?
Anastasia Iakovleva: At first glance, these are three completely different stories, but for me, they are connected by one central question: how well do we really know our own lives, and can we fully trust what we perceive as reality?
My female protagonists reach a point where the familiar picture of their world suddenly falls apart. What once seemed like love, safety, a memory, or an ordinary encounter takes on an entirely different meaning.
I want readers to move from one story to the next with a subtle sense of unease and curiosity, wondering: What if things here aren’t what they seem either?
But for me, Reverse Code is not only a book about fear. It is also about reclaiming control over your own life. My heroines may become victims of circumstances or of other people’s choices, but the most interesting part begins when they stop being victims.
I have personally experienced a few situations in which, because of an unexpected combination of circumstances and factors beyond my control, I temporarily felt that I had lost control over my own life. I remember thinking, What is happening, and why am I here right now?
It felt almost as if I had accidentally found myself on the set of a television series in which I was playing one of the main characters. It can be frightening and strangely fascinating at the same time, but more than anything, you want to escape that situation as quickly as possible and take your life back.
Q2. Why are you drawn to the idea of losing control over your own memories?
Anastasia Iakovleva: Because memory is one of the foundations of our identity. We make decisions, love or dislike people, trust them, and build relationships based largely on what we remember about our past.
Now imagine discovering one day that some of those memories are false. Or, even more disturbing, that someone deliberately altered your understanding of your own past.
That raises a frightening question: if my memories do not truly belong to me, then to what extent does my life belong to me?
I have always been fascinated by the idea of the mind playing tricks on us, and I read a great deal about consciousness and perception. Many scientists and philosophers do not completely dismiss the possibility that what we perceive as reality may not be reality in the way we normally understand it.
I am fascinated by the idea that reality may be very different from the way we experience it. Today, philosophers of mind seriously discuss the simulation hypothesis. David Chalmers, for example, has argued that we cannot conclusively prove that we are not living inside a simulation.
For me as a writer, that leads to an even more intriguing question: if our perception of reality can be altered, where does the objective world end and the reality created by our own consciousness begin?
I think it is difficult to imagine a more disturbing premise for a psychological thriller. This is not a danger you can simply see and run away from. The danger exists inside your own mind.
That is what interests me most as a writer: fear that does not come from a monster behind the door, but from the possibility that you can no longer trust your own mind.
Q3. How did you build suspense, and what role do unexpected twists play in your stories?
Anastasia Iakovleva: I try to give readers enough information to make them believe they already understand what is happening. Then one detail appears that forces them to reinterpret everything that came before.
For me, a good plot twist should never exist simply for shock value. After the reveal, the reader should mentally go back through the story and think, How did I not see that? The clues were there all along.
I enjoy playing with the reader’s expectations. They begin to trust a particular character, explanation, or version of events, and then suddenly that trust is called into question.
That is why the suspense in Reverse Code is built not only around the question, What is going to happen next? but also around another question: Did I even understand correctly what has already happened?
For me, that is one of the most powerful possibilities of the psychological thriller.
Q4. How did Six Psycho Ladies influence the way you portray women in Reverse Code?
Anastasia Iakovleva: While writing Six Psycho Ladies, I realized that I am far more interested in women who are complex and unpredictable than in perfect or easily understandable heroines. My protagonists in Six Psycho Ladies are exactly like that: women who can surprise even themselves when they are pushed into extreme circumstances.
We often think we know how we would behave in a certain situation. But until a person is truly confronted with fear, betrayal, danger, or a difficult moral choice, they cannot know for certain what they are capable of.
In Reverse Code, I wanted to take that idea even further. It was important to me to show not only what happens to a woman, but who she becomes after she discovers the truth.
My heroines do not always make choices that can be clearly labeled as right or wrong. Sometimes they can be harsh, contradictory, or even frightening. But that is precisely what makes them feel alive and real.
I am especially interested in that invisible line a person crosses when someone we once saw as a victim suddenly becomes someone capable of changing the rules of the game
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Q5. What have you discovered about yourself as a writer by working across such different genres?
Anastasia Iakovleva: I have realized that, for me, genre is almost like scenery. You can write science fiction, a psychological thriller, or a children’s story, but at the center there is still a human being and the same essential question: what will that person do when the world they know suddenly stops following familiar rules?
In the UNIQUE series, I was interested in imagination, extraordinary abilities, other worlds, and the possibility of looking at humanity from the outside.
In Six Psycho Ladies, I explored human behavior under extreme circumstances.
And in Reverse Code, I went even deeper into psychology (memory, manipulation, trust, control, and identity).
At this stage, I am especially drawn to characters who cannot simply be divided into “good” and “bad.”
I am fascinated by the moment of choice. What can make an ordinary person cross a line? What are they capable of doing for love, freedom, revenge, or simply to save their own life?
And perhaps the question that interests me most is this: do we ever truly know the people closest to us?
Q6. What do you want readers to feel after they turn the final page?
Anastasia Iakovleva: I love books that end on the final page but continue in the reader’s mind.
I want my stories to leave behind more than just the impression of an interesting plot or an unexpected ending. I want there to be a slight sense of discomfort, and a desire to think about the story again after the book has been closed.
Perhaps readers will ask themselves: How well do I really know the people around me? How much can I trust my own memory? What would I do if I discovered that an important part of my life had been built on a lie? And is there a point at which a good person becomes capable of doing something terrible?
These are exactly the themes I want to continue exploring: identity, memory, human behavior, relationships, manipulation, and the hidden possibilities of the human mind.
I am especially interested in the thin line between what we call reality and what our brains make us believe is reality.
If a reader closes the book, sits quietly for a few seconds, and thinks, What if this could actually happen? then I know the story has done what I wanted it to do.
Conclusion
Anastasia Iakovleva’s Reverse Code explores the darker questions surrounding memory, identity, trust, and human behavior. Its three stories place women in situations that suddenly challenge their understanding of life. Each protagonist must face a difficult truth and decide how far she is willing to go to regain control. For Anastasia Iakovleva, psychological thrillers offer a landscape to examine the choices people make under pressure. Her earlier work, including Six Psycho Ladies, also explores human behavior during difficult situations. With Reverse Code, she takes these questions further. She looks closely at memory, manipulation, perception, and the fragile nature of trust.
Anastasia Iakovleva also wants her stories to stay with readers after the final page. She hopes they will question what they know about themselves and the people around them. Hence, her stories ask one simple but unsettling question: how well do we really know our own lives?
Connect with Anastasia Iakovleva to learn more.
